body { -ms-overflow-style: scrollbar; overflow-y: scroll; overscroll-behavior-y: none; } .errorContainer { background-color: #FFF; color: #0F1419; max-width: 600px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 10%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; } .errorButton { margin: 3em 0; } .errorButton a { background: #1DA1F2; border-radius: 2.5em; color: white; padding: 1em 2em; text-decoration: none; } .errorButton a:hover, .errorButton a:focus { background: rgb(26, 145, 218); } .errorFooter { color: #657786; font-size: 80%; line-height: 1.5; padding: 1em 0; } .errorFooter a, .errorFooter a:visited { color: #657786; text-decoration: none; padding-right: 1em; } .errorFooter a:hover, .errorFooter a:active { text-decoration: underline; } #placeholder, #react-root { display: none !important; } body { background-color: #FFF !important; }

JavaScript is not available.

We’ve detected that JavaScript is disabled in this browser. Please enable JavaScript or switch to a supported browser to continue using twitter.com. You can see a list of supported browsers in our Help Center.

Terms of Service Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Imprint Ads info © 2023 Twitter, Inc.

Conversation

Water ice inside the darkest craters on the Moon? 🔦 Launching mid-Nov,

’s Lunar Flashlight, a

@NASA_Technology

satellite roughly the size of a briefcase, will use lasers to search for water ice deposits inside dark craters at the Moon’s South Pole. go.nasa.gov/3SHV9BP

This image is an artist's depiction of the Lunar Flashlight cubesat at work around the Moon. There is a partial view of the Moon's surface on the left-hand side of the image with the cubesat flying past. The Lunar Flashlight cubesat looks like a small box, roughly the size of a briefcase, with four rectangular solar panels situated at the top, almost like blades of helicopter.

read image description

ALT

This is a photo for the Lunar Flashlight cubesat sitting on a table in a lab. The Lunar Flashlight cubesat looks like a small box, roughly the size of a briefcase, with four rectangular solar panels situated at the top, almost like blades of helicopter.

read image description

ALT

GTaerospace and 5 others

27

173

841

We know water ice exists below the lunar regolith (broken rock + dust), but not whether surface ice covers the floors inside these cold craters. Lunar Flashlight will explore the reservoirs, much like a prospector looking for hidden treasure by shining a flashlight into a cave.

This is a close-up image of one of the permanently shadowed craters on the Moon's south pole – a region where the Sun never rises above crater rims. This image shows a dark and ominous looking shadow inside the crater.

read image description

ALT

4

35

252

There's lots of opportunity for discovery! Reservoirs of water ice could be purified as drinking water, converted into breathable oxygen, or used as fuel by astronauts. Watch a video from our friends at

to learn more about these dark craters:

NASA | The Moon's Permanently Shadowed Regions

As you watch the Moon over the course of a month, you'll notice that different features are illuminated by the Sun at different times. However, there are som...

11:22 PM · Oct 28, 2022

Replying to

and

I wish you success

Replying to

and

Chinese on far side of moon gonna get it all.